An ‘Achiever’ article on the subject of enthusiasm

Press, 24 August 1988, Page 35

An ‘Achiever’ article on the subject of enthusiasm

About the worst thing that can happen to a human being is to lose their enthusiasm, excitement, zest for living. It has long been a belief of mine that the person who maintains an air of sombre boredom, that nothing-new-under-the-sun attitude, is a person with deep and serious feelings of personal inadequacy. Enthusiasm can be so easily lost. In trying to imitate their elders, which is a serious mistake made by virtually all children (it should be the other way around most of the time), young people often adopt a pose and an expression which seems to say, “Nothing can surprise, charm, or interest me in the slightest.” Hands in pockets, leaning against a wall, head tilted slightly back, and viewing, an uninteresting world through half closed eyes, the teenager believes his is the image of the experienced, sophisticated, man-of-the-world whose most pressing problem is stifling a yawn.

It would not come as a complete surprise to me if most of this is caused by the tendency of the average adult to try to give the impression to his children that he knows everything in this world worth knowing.

How many times has a youngster run with eager, excited face to his father or mother with some new fact, only to have it waved off with a comment such as “Yes, yes, I know all about that,” or “Are you just discovering that?” Ego-pricking of this kind can go a long way towards emptying a child’s tank of enthusiasm. So, maybe he makes the mistake of trying to grow up to be like his mother or father. Maybe he is top young to realise that if they are living dull,' uninteresting lives, it is because they have permitted themselves to become dull, uninteresting person. x But the people who keeps his enthusiasm goes through life with his wonder, excitement and interest at a consistently high level. As a parent, he is quick to admit to his children that he does not know very much about anything yet and. neither does anybody else. He understands the vital importance of fostering and feeding the enthusiasm of youth, he teaches his youngsters that so-called “know-it-alls” are to be pitied, or laughed at, but seldom listened to. The pity of it is that our enthusiassm never dies a natural, death. We murder

enthusiasm through slow strangulation by imitating the dull, uninterested people who already have strangled their own natural enthusiasm. It is a sad day when the curiosity, excitement and zest for living go out of one’s life. There is so much in the world to see and know about, there is so much to do, so much to give, that the loss of enthusiasm for living can only come from a kind of mental blindness. I, for one, hope to keep my enthusiasm — and myself — alive. Whenever you see a person affecting an attitude of bored sophistication, you can rest assured that the attitude is phony and the person has a lot of growing younger to do. —Earl Nightingale